Highlights & Happenings

15th Vanderbilt Poll Released

CSDI co-directors Josh Clinton and John Geer released the findings of the most recent Vanderbilt poll at a press conference on December 8th. Read more

CSDI Is Now Accepting Applications for 2017-18 Visiting Scholars

CSDI is currently accepting applications for visiting scholars conducting research on political institutions, opinion or behavior during the 17-18 academic year. We are seeking up to three Post-doctoral Scholars (a year long fellowship for applicants with doctoral degrees received between September 1, 2014 and August 1, 2017) and up to three Senior Visiting Scholars (for applicants of all ranks, with a length of up to one year to be negotiated on a case-by case basis). Priority will be given to applications received before January 15, 2017. For more information see the "Fellowship" tab above.

CSDI is happy to announce that our 16-17 Postdoctoral Fellows have arrived to begin their appointments.

Douglas Ahler recently earned his Ph.D.from the University of California Berkeley. His research focuses on American politics, public opinion, representation, and political psychology. In the fall of 2017 he will head to Florida State University where he has accepted an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Political Science.

Marika Csapo was just granted her Ph.D. from the University of California Los Angeles. Her academic interests include local Brazilian politics, the politics of development, social policy and public services, health politics, and methods for dealing with non-exchangeable data in Bayesian data analysis.

CSDI Faculty Affiliate Marc Hetherington's books win awards.

Marc Hetherington's book "Why Washington Won't Work: Polarization, Political Trust, and the governing Crisis" co authored by Thomas Rudolph received the very prestigious Alexander L. George book award of the International Soceity of Political Psychology. Hetherington's previous book "Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics" co-written with Jonathan Weiler and released in 2009 received the American Political Science Association's Philip E. Converse Award for an outstanding book published at least five years ago.

CSDI Faculty Affiliate Cecilia Hyunjung Mo's paper on the political identity of Asian Americans is soon to appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Politics.

Presented at the MPSA conference in April 2015, "Politics or Performance in Regulatory Personnel Turnover" by Kathleen Doherty, Dave Lewis and Scott Limbocker won MPSA"s inaugural Kenneth J. Meier Award for the best paper in bureaucratic politics, public administration or public policy. The paper examined the turnover of agency contacts on major rules published from 1995 to 2013 finding evidence of turnover driven by presidential marginalization and strategic exit by bureaucrats.

What do sharks have to do with Democracy? Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels explain

Are modern ideas of democracy fundamentally misguided? Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government by Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels examines the faults of current democratic logic that have lead the majority of people to make misinformed opinions about politics. As Achen and Bartels note, "politics is not often very cheery. But facing our problems honestly is the first step to doing something about them." In this spirit, the authors have taken time to explain their reasons for writing this book, what conventional ideas about democracy they oppose, the presidential primaries, and even shark attacks. Q&A

CSDI Affiliate Marc Hetherington's Research on Authoritarianism is Getting a lot of Attention From the Mainstream Media as of Late.

In a piece published by Politico, The One Weird Trait That Predicts Whether You're a Trump Supporter" Hetherington's research was used to analyze the current presidential race. The analysis revealed that individuals who score high on measures of authoritarianism are more likely to support Donald Trump for president. The article has been shared over 150,000 times. He is also quoted and his research is discussed extensively in a recent VOX article, "The rise of American authoritarianism" which asks "Why is the Republican electorate supporting a far-right populist with no real political experience? How has Donald Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, suddenly become so popular?"

Josh Clinton and Carolyn Roush along with University of Pennsylvania Professor John Lapinski are working with NBC News to help make sense of the 2016 Presidential race. Their latest contribution, "Where Sanders and Clinton are Dominating" was published on January 27, 2016.

CSDI Welcomes Senior Visiting Professor Gerald Wright

CSDI is pleased to welcome Senior Visiting Professor Jerry Wright. Professor Wright (Indiana University) will be in residence for the entire 15-16 academic year. His research centers on the linkages between citizens and their governments. He is the author or co-author of four books, Electoral Choice in America (1974), Congress and Policy Change (1986), Statehouse Democracy (1993), and Keeping the Republic 2d edition (2003) as well as over forty articles and book chapters. His current research is on legislative coalitions, elections and representation in a comparative study of the state legislatures and Congress.

CSDI is happy to announce that our 15-16 Postdoctoral Fellows have arrived to begin their appointments.

Melinda (Molly) Ritchie recently defended her dissertation at the University of Illinois. Her research examines how members of Congress engage with bureaucratic agencies on policy issues and promotes our understanding of how the relationships between legislators and the executive branch influence the formation and implementation of policy.

Nara Pavão was just granted her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. Her academic interests primarily focus on corruption, public opinion and voting behavior - more specifically on their intersection with issues of democratic governance and electoral accountability.

Wiseman Book Receives Top Honors

CSDI Faculty Affiliate Alan Wiseman and co-author Craig Volden have been awarded both the American Political Science Associations 2015 Gladys M. Kammerer Award for the year's best book on U.S. national policy as well as the 2015 Richard F. Fenno, Jr Prize which is awarded to the best book in legislative studies published in the previous year.They will receive the awards for their book, Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress: The Lawmakers at the annual APSA meeting in September.

Abernathy Successfully Defends Dissertation

CSDI Graduate Affiliate Claire Abernathy has successfully defended her dissertation, Legislative Correspondence Management Practices: Congressional Offices and the Treatment of Constituent Opinion. Claire's research focuses on Congress and representation. In her dissertation, she gathered original data from surveys and interviews with congressional staffers to explore how members of Congress discern the policy preferences held by their constituents. This fall, she will join the Political Science program at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ as an Assistant Professor (tenure track).

Clinton New Editor-in- Chief of QJPS

CSDI Co-Director Josh Clinton and Scott Ashworth were named editors-in-chief of the Quarterly Journal of Political Science. QJPS is dedicated to the publication of research developing and testing the empirical implications of positive political theories.

Bartels named Andrew Carnegie Fellow

Larry Bartels, CSDI Co-director and May Werthan Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science was named a Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Bartels is one of 31 fellows who comprise the inaugural class of the major annual scholarship program which provides support for scholars in the social sciences and humanities. Read more

Wiseman discusses the Legislative Effectiveness Project on University of Chicago Radio Harris Podcast

CSDI faculty affiliate Alan Wiseman recently returned from the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy where he visited the Center for Policy Entrepreneurship. While there he was featured on a University of Chicago Radio Harris podcast discussing the Legislative Effectiveness Project. Wiseman and his co-author Craig Volden have developed a systematic measure of the legislative effectiveness of members of Congress. The ratings can be found in their recent book, Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress: The Lawmakers, and on their website thelawmakers.org.

Salon - 5/10/2016 - CSDI Co-Director Larry Bartels research is discussed in Neal Garber's piece entitled "There are no Reagan Democrats: The GOP has become the party of rich, white, southerners."

Los Angeles Times - 5/9/16 - CSDI Co-Director John Geer and Lynn Vavreck's SpotCheck project is mentioned in David Lauter's article "Why it took two weeks for a Donald Trump attack ad to anger people. "

Los Angeles Times - 5/2/16 - CSDI Co-Director Larry Bartels and Chris Achen argue "The Presidential Primaries are Out of Control - and the Party Conventions are Broken."